1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to devices for the storage and transport of small articles. More particularly, the invention concerns a novel organizer apparatus which is usable either as a tote bag or with an empty five gallon container for the organization and transport of small tools and supplies from one work site to another.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Many craftsmen use tote bags of various configuration for the storage and transport of numerous types of supplies, small articles and small tools. Such tote bags are typically constructed from canvas or like material and provide a top opening interior compartment for the receipt and transport of the tools, articles and supplies. Typically, the prior art tote bags are provided with a shoulder strap for carrying the bag and also often include pockets formed on the interior walls of the tote bag for receipt of small tools and the like. A drawback of the prior art tote bags is that the interior storage compartments of the bags are of limited size and are not well adapted for receipt of bulky supplies and other work articles which need to be routinely transported from location to location.
To provide means for the transport of small tools and articles as well as larger and more bulky articles, many workmen use empty five-gallon buckets for the storage and transport of such articles. These empty five-gallon plastic containers provide an inexpensive means for the transport of tools and other more bulky articles from workplace to workplace. In similar fashion, gardeners often use empty containers such as five-gallon buckets to store and transport gardening tools and supplies. While these empty containers function well to transport a wide variety of small articles, the articles have a tendency to intermingle proximate the bottom of the bucket making their retrieval frustrating, time consuming and difficult.
The storage and transport apparatus of the present invention provides an elegant solution to the aforementioned problems experienced in the use of both tote bags and empty five-gallon containers. More particularly, the novel apparatus of the present invention can be conveniently used as a tote bag to transport and store tools and other small articles or alternatively can be used in connection with empty containers, such as five-gallon buckets for the orderly storage and transport of tools and larger more bulky articles.
The apparatus of one form of the present invention comprises an inner skirt-like wall and a cooperating outer skirt-like wall which is interconnected with the inner skirt-like wall proximate the tipper margin thereof. When the apparatus is used in conjunction with a five-gallon container, the apparatus is draped over the container so that the inner skirt-like wall depends downwardly within the interior of the container while the outer skirt-like wall depends downwardly over the outer surface of the container. The outer skirt-like wall of the container has a length greater than the inside skirt-like wall so that the lower margins thereof can be releasably interconnected by connector means such as a heavy duty zipper or the like. More particularly, when the apparatus is used as a tote bag, the connector or closure means are used to interconnect the lower margins of the outer skirt so as to define an interior compartment similar to the interior compartment of prior art tote bags within which tools and small articles can be placed. Uniquely, both the inner and outer skirt-like walls of the apparatus are provided with a plurality of circumferentially spaced pockets which are adapted to receive an organize small tools and various types of articles which are frequently transported from location to location. With this construction, when the apparatus is used either as a tote bag or used in connected with an empty five-gallon container, the various compartments enable the workman to efficiently organize the small articles and then at time of use quickly and easily select a particular article from one of the spaced-apart pockets formed in the organizer apparatus.